Court remands TCS employee to judicial custody; bail pleas of co-accused in other cases part heard

Nashik: A sessions court at Nashik Road on Monday ordered judicial custody remand of the TCS Nashik woman employee, who was arrested last Thursday from Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar and is named co-accused in a case of sexual exploitation and religious coercion of a woman co-worker.The case also involves a team leader who is accused of sexually exploiting the co-worker on the promise of marriage and his colleague who is accused of sexual harassment. The woman employee is accused of religious harassment.The police produced her before additional sessions judge Kedar Joshi at Nashik Road on the completion of her three-day custodial remand that ended on Monday. "The police have completed their recovery and did not seek further custodial interrogation," public prosecutor Ajay Misar said while confirming the court's order sending her to jail under judicial custody.In all nine cases have been registered and involve eight accused, including two women (one of them AGM - Delivery Partner) from the TCS Nashik office. The first complaint involved sexual exploitation and religious coercion following which another seven co-workers lodged complaints of sexual harassment and the ninth complaint of religious coercion was lodged by a male employee.In a related development, the court of Additional Sessions Judge VV Kathare heard the bail applications for six of these accused individuals, including five male employees and the company's AGM (Delivery Partner). The AGM is accused of failing to act on sexual harassment complaints brought forward by female staff.Defense counsel Baba Sayyed submitted, "Since the individuals have been suspended from TCS, there is no risk of them interfering with the workplace and neither would they be going anywhere else given that they are permanent residents of the city."Advocate Mayur Deshpande, representing the AGM, emphasized that the investigation was complete and his client remained committed to all court requirements.The court has scheduled a hearing for the police to present their response this Tuesday, after which a decision on the bail pleas is expected.